Sandy CrisisCamps Will Hack Solutions To The Less Tangible Hurricane Problems

For people not in New York who want to do more than give money (and who know how to code), consider attending a CrisisCamp this weekend and hacking some online ways to help.

After a natural disaster, state and federal officials play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the public. But during Hurricane Sandy, hackers took it upon themselves to assist the best they could from their laptops, working on everything from a temporary housing match-up system to an online memorial for the dead and missing. Now that impromptu movement, dubbed Hurricane Hackers, is holding a series of events this weekend to tackle even more Sandy-related coding projects.

Sandy CrisisCamps—events that will educate participants on what needs can be filled and how they can be addressed by coding—are being held around the world. Participating cities include Boston; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Auckland, New Zealand; and Galway, Ireland.

The events will all be based on the CrisisCamp model, which started in 2009 after the Haiti earthquake to connect the technology community with global development and crisis management experts. At the MIT CrisisCamp in Boston, members of MIT’s Center for Civic Media, the emergency manager of Nashua, New Hampshire, hackers, and professional designers all plan on showing up.

Want to get involved? A full list of the free events can be found here.

Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine and more. For story ideas: ariel[at]fastcompany.com Continued